Cover Image: Robyn Hood Outlaw Princess

Robyn Hood Outlaw Princess

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Member Reviews

I love a good retelling and who doesn't love the story of Robin Hood. It was a quick and enjoyable read with a genderbent premise which I found quite refreshing.

I would recommend this to all.

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It was somewhat good, but the book was very short, and it made the story very quick and everything happend so fast and not in a super-amazing way. it was very BAM BAM. Plus getting to know Robyn took time.

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I love the myth of Robin Hood, and I tend to love retellings. but for some reason I didn't love this one.. But I can't figure out why i didn't like this one.

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The reason for picking up this book was I really love Robin Hood re tellings. The concept of the book was very interesting . I liked the combination of modern and going back to the past. It was however too small. I would have loved it if the book was longer . I also found the ending very confusing. I however, loved the backstory of Robyn and Pip.

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I've read a lot of Robin Hood retellings, and quite a few genderbent ones, but I've never read a dreamscape genderbent Robin Hood. It was fun to see a modern girl figuring out how to live (and steal) in Sherwood forest, though I'd note that her band of merry girls didn't seem too put off by her clearly not being their normal medieval Robyn (and the medieval dialogue was a bit stilted). Speaking of the merry women, it was absolutely refreshing to see a group of women as the outlaws working to fight against an unjust system led by tyrannical man. A very fitting reason to genderbend the original tale. Robyn reads a little young for a contemporary 17-year-old, but she's got some fire in her. I'm not quite sure who the target demographic is, as it seems to really go for a middle grade or young YA voice here, but the ending gets dark enough that it really wouldn't be appropriate. The plot also moves quite fast, not really allowing the reader time to get to know characters or really feel the weight of the book's stakes. A small note: the Sheriff and Robyn trading alliterative insults made me laugh out loud.

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I was surprised that this was a short story. It made for very quick reading that could pass a lazy summer afternoon. It filled with fun characters. I also loved the time travel element. I just wish that it could have been shorter. This is because I could be more immersed in the world and get to know the characters better. Overall, it’s a sweet story that is perfect for fans of the Robin Hood legend.

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I received an advance ecopy of this book from NetGalley. My heartfelt thanks.

Going in, I did not know that this book was based off of a musical. So, I was shocked at how short and basic this book read. The first few chapters were a bit dull and teenage angst-y, but they were short and really just served to set the scene and stage for the main meat of the book.

The idea was fun (though some knowledge of the original Robin Hood story is helpful for fullest enjoyment), easy to read and comprehend, and in this day and age everyone appreciates a female-centered, girl power plot.

The "girls are just as capable as boys" message felt a bit too heavy handed for me, but I'm going to let that slide on the grounds that this is adapted from a musical and stage plays have different needs than novels to get their point across sometimes.

The voice is very young - I didn't realize the protagonist was supposed to be 17 or 18 for a while. The content is light and relatively easy to comprehend - kids as young as 11 could probably read and enjoy this with little or no trouble.

Overall impression: cute, light, fun, easy read, but not fantastic, and a bit heavy-handed on the "girls are important too" bit.

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A scintillating retelling of the Robin Hood story with a teen girl at the helm Feminist at its core, Robyn Hood is a great role model for girls. Robyn believes women should stand up and have a larger part of history - be it the pastor history in the making.

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Robyn Hood: Outlaw Princess is an interesting book. It is well-written. It feels more like a middle-grade novel than YA. I would recommend this book for tweens.

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Okay so... I'm not really too sure where to start with this review. I was interested due to a keen interest in Robin Hood and I loved the idea of a gender swap for one of my favourite historical characters.

It's very short but then seeing as it's a musical turned book I can't really fault it for that reason. The main characters though I found to be highly unlikeable. Robyn's completely right to want more emphasis on women in history but the males and even women around her are infuriating with how they react to her passion on the topic. And then her temper tantrums just seem far too childish for her age also, more like that of a 13 year old at the most.

Even in what seems to be more like (view spoiler) towards the end things feel hazy. Rumours that the female outlaws are being taught to read, which seems a strange rumour to be spread about a gang who steal from the rich and give to the poor, then the Sheriff condemns this but a bit later we read that he arranged for Robyn to be assigned a tutor for French, writing, and... reading. Not to mention that even though she was sent to live with him it says she'd never met him?

I couldn't believe in any of the love interests either but that's down to the comments they'd made and what seemed a lack of chemistry. Albeit this isn't the main story it was still in the back of my mind.

I really wanted to like this book a lot more, I think it would appeal to a younger age hence my rating of 3/5 stars however I think it should be read with someone who explains that the characters are mostly wrong to portray women as not important to history.

Links to review posted on website and Goodreads added.

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The concept of this book really intrigued me. A modern day girl, Robyn, travels back in time to find that she is Robyn Hood, leader of the female outlaw gang living in Sherwood Forest.

However, I found this short (really, very short) book that is based off a musical, to be chalk full of plot holes. Honestly, as I was reading it, I had the thought that it was reading like a first draft. It did not seem well developed at all.

Robyn wakes up in Sherwood Forest, having just seemingly traveled back in time. But instead of being overwhelmed with confusion, she just takes it all in stride. She speaks like everyone else, dresses like everyone else, seems to have no trouble learning everyones names just by hearing them once, and is already proficient in archery, swordplay, and hand to hand combat.

What?

Plus, when she asks the one person who seems to realize that she's from the future how it all happened (and why she is the only one who knows about it), the girl very conveniently doesn't know how she knows, she just knows that she knows.

Again, what?

Aside from the plot holes, the book was so short that I got little to no character development.

Perhaps this story comes across better as a musical? Maybe someday I'll have the opportunity to see it. Until then, this is all I have to judge by, and I wasn't very impressed.

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This book would be perfect for any pre-teen who loves girl power themed books. There were a lot of funny and witty scenes I really enjoyed and I just wish there was a bit more to the story.

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Interesting take on the story to feed the imagination. Great characters

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When a mysterious storm hits, Robyn wakes up far from her own present time. She is leader of a band of women who fight for justice and fairness.

The premise of this tale is interesting, and the fact that it is based on a musical intrigued me. Sadly, I think I would have preferred to watch the musical than read this book. At least then there would have been music. Although this is told from Robyn's point of view, we're not given much insight into her. Well, we're told how she thinks and feels, making the narrative of the story clunky.

One of the things that make time travel type stories so much fun is watching someone out of their time struggle. Robyn here did not. She goes straight into battle and does not even hesitate when she kills someone.

Nothing about this story surprised me. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy seeing the Robin hood legend told in a different way.

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A short and interesting new rendition of the legend of Robin Hood, with time travel and an amazing protagonist: in this little jewel, the mythical outlaw is a girl from our time who travels in time in a lightning storm making a thunderous arrival on Sherwood as the leader of a band of women.
You can find in this story action, a little romance, the traitorous Prince John and his minion the Sheriff but you can also find more actual issues that troubles our youngs: a bully with all the power in the person of the school's director, a parent absent, power concentrated on one gender only, among others.
This is a short and fast story you couls read and enjoy in an afternoon.

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Thank you so much to Booksgosocial via netgalley for sending me an ARC copy of Robyn hood outlaw princess by John Reynolds.

Robyn Howard is bored of her mundane life, mundane school, mundane people. Robyn is rebellious and always says whats on her mind. Robyn is the kind of girl that every girl needs as a best friend.

Robyn soon finds out that she comes from a long line of outlaws one of who is Robin Hood. Once she discovered her heritage she knows that she too must make a difference!

When going into this book I assumed it was going to be just a gender swap of Robin Hood but it is set more modern and had its own unique style.

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I can already see this is going to be one of those books that is going to upset someone if not outright offend because they took a beloved male icon and turned him into a woman. If there’s anything that irritates people in this decade it’s changing the gender or race of their icons.

Then there’s the group that will be upset because it’s yet another reboot of a fairytales, legend, myth, etc so where’s the originality?

Can you tell I read a lot of reviews? I often do so after reading something myself to see where my opinion falls against the general consensus; sometimes it’s entertaining, sometimes it’s annoying.
As a woman I liked that a book was put out to give girls their own hero in the woods, a champion to get behind who will stand against social injustice.

It’s not a perfect story. Immediately I was irritated that the main character gets punished by having to write an essay on three famous men, why specifically men? Women have contributed a lot too but then I guess that’s kind of the point of this gender bending story so deep breath taken. Then there was the female teacher actually stereotyping girls as having a problem with talking too much. Another deep breath taken. The female history teacher says that “History is mostly about men” which is only true if you teach it that way as women have played some great roles as leaders in various countries and stories but since we live in male dominated society their parts are often overlooked for men. It just surprised me you’d have a female character, in what seems to be a modern story, continue that charade. But I’m trying so continuing I go.

The main character, Roby, is supposed to be 17 but the way she’s portrayed is closer to a 2 yr old. Her dialogue, bad attitude, temper tantrums all seem a bit immature for that age however I’m reading this as an adult so in all probability if someone in their teens or younger read this they could probably identify with a girl being angry at parents who don’t get it and a school more concerned with rules than making education fun.

Once I got through those initial chapters it actually turned into a great story I had fun reading with my elementary school age daughter. She loved the action scenes and it gave us a chance to talk about social injustice on a level she could understand.

The conclusion felt REALLY rushed like they were pressed for time and just needed to end it which was disappointing. Even my daughter felt surprised and asked me to flip through some more because she thought we had lost pages.

I let my daughter rate this because if I did it would be unfair as it was obviously not written for my age level and since she’s more of the target audience it seemed only right for her opinion to take precedence.

I did read that this was actually a musical which I had never heard of and would be curious to see if it translated better on stage at least as far as being able to enjoy it more on an adult level. I’m curious to hear what kind of music was done to accompaniment it.

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